Since its inception we have welcomed NDIS participants to the studio. We provide individual sessions either in the beautiful studio or at your residence. We also welcome participants to our groups and workshops. We are NDIS registered so you can be self, plan or NDIA managed. We provide service agreements so you know that you'll receive high quality, reliable service with our professionally registered art therapists. 

NDIS participants may access funding via Capacity Building

or Core: 01_741_0128_1_3

or Group Activities (variable)

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If you know what you'd like to attend and ready to register, you can complete the service agreement, or you can send an enquiry for more details. 

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Update March 2025 Information for NDIS Planners and Local Area Co-ordinators

From ANZACATA The peak professional body for Creative Arts Therapies in Australia, New Zealand and Asia.

Creative Arts Therapy and the NDIS 

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Creative Arts Therapists are university-trained allied health clinicians who help participants on the NDIS with therapy support. Professional Creative Arts Therapists (masters level trained) and Tier level Practising Members (graduate/post graduate level trained) provide NDIS participants with Improved Daily Living Therapeutic Supports.

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Creative Arts Therapy is funded under the NDIS. It must be undertaken by a Creative Arts Therapist, registered with ANZACATA. The Therapist will work with the participant to make a plan, conduct sessions in accordance with the goals of the participant and report to the NDIA on progress with the participant in reaching their goals.

This has been accepted by the NDIA for a decade and nothing has changed.

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Professional Members use the specific line item for Art Therapy Support and Tier level members use ‘other therapy’. Both are practising members of ANZACATA.

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The NDIA is currently reviewing this arrangement with Professor Stephen Duckett to consider our extensive research and evidence base. He will give his findings to the Australian Government and the Minister for the NDIS, The Hon, Amanda Rishworth by April 17th.

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You can see our submission to this Review on our website home page

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The NDIA has committed to making the results of the Duckett Review public and has stated clearly that in the meantime, nothing has changed for Art Therapy and it remains on the NDIS as a therapy support at the current NDIA mandated rate of $193.99 per hour for therapy, regardless of if Art Therapy is a stated support or not. There has been some confusion with plan managers and support co-ordinators, but ANZACATA wants all plan managers and support co-ordinators to know that nothing has changed and Art Therapy may be used by participants, in current plans and in new plans and ANZACATA therapists may claim for their work as therapy at $193.99 per hour for individual sessions.

This fact is reiterated by the NDIA on its own website here where it clearly states

Correct at March 17th 2025, contact ceo@anzacata.org

ANZACATA

Australian, New Zealand and Asian Creative Arts Therapies Association
ABN 63 072 954 388
PO Box 2391, North Brighton, VIC 3186, Australia member.services@anzacata.org www.anzacata.org

 

Any proposed changes will not come into force until the review is completed and the relevant findings are

considered.

Currently we have no date for the Duckett Review findings to be reviewed by the Government, and

with an election pending all indications are that any changes to Art Therapy on the Scheme will not

occur until after the election result is known. Therefore the status quo is likely to remain for several

months – Art Therapy will remain a Therapy Support and will continue to be offered until after the

election in May 2025.

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MEDIA RELEASE

Arts therapists concerned for vulnerable clients as NDIS funding changes without consultation

Wednesday 27 November 2024: The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) advised the Australian, New Zealand and Asian Creative Arts Therapies Association (ANZACATA) on Monday 25 November that arts therapy will not be continued as a Therapy Support after 2 December 2024. On 26 November the NDIA posted different guidelines on its website without consultation or explanation. The NDIA has left the profession reeling from its poor process, lack of consultation and different advice from one day to the next. The unexpected removal of art therapy from the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) approved services list will leave hundreds of Australians living with a disability without access to crucial therapeutic support.

Dr Kate Dempsey, CEO of ANZACATA, the peak professional association for Creative Arts Therapies in Australia, New Zealand and Asia, said the organisation and its members are shocked and dismayed at the lack of transparency, poor process, absence of fairness and the lack of communication surrounding this change.

“We were not consulted and the reason given for our sudden exclusion (that art and music therapy are not evidence-based therapies) is incorrect.

“We have been given nothing in writing to explain why after more than a decade, art therapy is to be excluded from the NDIS. There has never been mention of a review and no paperwork has been provided to us,” stated Dr Dempsey.

Arts therapy is a proven, evidence-based treatment modality, currently providing essential support to NDIS participants who often struggle to engage with conventional therapeutic approaches. The proposed changes will affect vulnerable Australians nationwide, including those with complex communication needs. Art Therapy has been a funded therapeutic support since the NDIS commenced.

"This decision will have devastating consequences for NDIS participants who rely on arts therapy as their primary means of therapeuticsupport," says Dr Dempsey.

"Many of our members’ clients cannot effectively engage with traditional talk-based therapies, making arts therapy their vital link to therapeutic support."

Key impacts of the proposed changes include:

• Loss of a key therapeutic support for hundreds of NDIS participants

• Potential closure of numerous small healthcare practices across Australia

• Job losses for Masters-qualified Arts Therapists

• Reduced access to disability support services, particularly in regional areas

• Significant disruption to existing therapeutic relationships.

Arts therapists in Australia complete rigorous clinical training specifically designed to support people with disability. This professional workforce has developed specialised expertise in making therapy accessible to vulnerable community members who may otherwise be unable to access appropriate support services.

“The removal of arts therapy services contradicts the NDIS's founding principle of providing choice and control to people with disability. It represents a significant step backward in Australia's commitment to providing accessible disability support services,” commented Dr Dempsey.

ANZACATA calls on the government to:

• Maintain arts therapy as an approved NDIS service

• Engage in consultation with practitioners and service users

• Review the extensive evidence base supporting arts therapy's effectiveness

• Consider the broader economic and social impacts of this decision